


like winter's losing fight -

by bisexualklausmikaelson



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-08 05:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19863916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualklausmikaelson/pseuds/bisexualklausmikaelson
Summary: He is sixteen when he comes out - or Will Byers is in love with his best friend.





	like winter's losing fight -

**Author's Note:**

> that rain scene in s3 gave me some real byler feels and produced this mess. au after s3. will-centric, angst. enjoy :)

-

He calls him, sometimes.

Nancy picks up, most of the time.

“Hey,” Will quickly says. “Can you pass the phone to Mike?” he can’t hide the excitement in his voice and somehow, the Wheeler sister finds it endearing. She was away from someone she loves too. So she knows how hard this is on him.

“Sure Will,” Nancy smiles, calling her brother down.

Mike Wheeler rushes down to the living room, a huge grin stretching from ear to ear.

“Hey Will,” He sings, and he can imagine the look of pure excitement on his friend’s face. “How are you?” Mike asks.

Will twirls his fingers around the phone cord, biting down on his bottom lip. “I’m good,” he whispers, sounding nervous. “What about you? And everyone? How are things back in Hawkins?” He wonders.

“Better,” Mike replies. “Things were really crazy for a bit,” he says while scratching the back of his head.

There is an off pause then - and strangely enough, silence was never an issue for the two boys. They used to talk for hours, but now, things had changed. They were older and therefore, awkward silences between them were becoming more and more common.

“Do you ever think about leaving?” Will suddenly asks - attempting to fill the void.

And, after everything that went down in Hawkins, you’d think Mike would be eager to run. But instead, he says this: “I can’t, this is my home, Will.” 

Another pause.

More awkwardness.

“Do you ever think about coming back?” Mike suddenly questions.

Will doesn’t hesitate to answer him. “Yes,” he claims. “All the time,” he offers as he can hear the other boy release a sigh of relief. 

“Maybe you should,” Mike tells him. “I think - I think we would really like that…me and the guys you know?” He adds on, sounding a tad too excited for a possibility that was only that - a possibility. Nothing more.

Will stammers, wondering why his heart was beating so fast, at this very moment.

“Maybe when I come back, you can show me how to be like you,” he quips, fingers clenching tightly around the phone. “How to be tough and brave,” Will specifies, as his other hand is pulling on the phone cord so hard, he might just yank it off the wall.

And, and that moment, he hears Mike release a fond laugh.

“Will,” he sings (with, what Will imagines, dreamy-eyes and rosy cheeks that hurt from smiling so much). “You already are those things,” Mike sighs.

Oddly enough, Will doesn’t believe him. 

-

He doesn’t see Mike again until Thanksgiving day.

As predicted, he spends all his time with El. He can’t be angry at him for it - he loved seeing his best friend so darn happy. Even if it was with someone else. However, in the end, Mike does save a bit of time for Will.

And it doesn’t matter how small the contribution is, he appreciates it nonetheless.

It’s the thought that counts after all.

“Will,” Mike hugs him tightly as soon as he sees him. “I’m so glad you came,” he whispers in his ear - and it makes Will want to ball his eyes out.

He missed his touch so much.

“Of course,” Will says, looking at him and realizing that his eyes slip to the other boys mouth more than he knows. “I wouldn’t miss thanksgiving,” he recovers quickly and joins the rest of the boys.

In the evening, everyone gathers outside to watch the stars. Max and Lucas’ bickering can be heard for miles. Dustin laughs into Will’s ears as he sits beside Mike while he holds El’s hand. Will doesn’t want to describe the feelings he has right now as jealousy. Because that’s not it - El was like his sister and Mike was his best friend. So naturally, he’s happy that they’re together.

Just sometimes -

He wishes he could be included.

“Look look!” Mike shouts, shaking El’s shoulders. She looks up at the sky and smiles.

“A shooting star,” she whispers, squeezing Mike’s hand. “Did you make a wish?” she asks.

Mike nods. “Yes, I did,” he tells her, sealing their night with a kiss.

(That night, Will had made a wish as well. He wished that he could stay). 

-

He is sixteen when he comes out - and sure it’s not exactly the most open of times when it comes to stuff like that, but Joyce Buyers has always been way ahead of the curve when it came to being a parent. 

She doesn’t exactly get it - but she tries. And that’s all Will really asks for. Besides, she’s always known that her son was different from the other kids, that he was special.

Jonathan doesn’t have much of a reaction to it either - especially as someone as sexually ambiguous as he is, Will didn’t expect any less from his sensitive, kind and caring older brother. 

El is overjoyed - she pulls him close and smiles widely. She’s probably even happier about this that he is.

“I’m so glad you can be honest with yourself about who you really are,” She goes on to say.

He keeps the snarky remarks to himself - the fact that her boyfriend was the one who helped him come to this realization in the first place. He laughs at the tragedy. He’s gay and he’s in love with his best friend who’s in love with his sort-of sister.

God couldn’t have played a crueler trick.

-

Will doesn’t come back into Hawkins until he is eighteen.

It took him some time to be ready to face the guys - would they accept him? Would they even understand?

Lucas is a bit apprehensive, which makes sense, this is a small town after all. Max, on the other hand, is totally ecstatic, talking about how this totally makes sense and no wonder he didn’t like girls. Dustin seems unfazed by it all - he leans against his friends with a joint in hand.

“Gay, straight, bi, who the fuck cares? Love is love, you know?” He hums, nudging Mike, who’s been very quiet through the entire process. 

He’s thinking - and as always, the Wheeler boy wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s obviously upset about something.

And sure enough, that night, Will finds out what that something is.

“How come you stopped talking to me?” Mike asks, cornering him when he’s on his way up to the washroom.

“I’m sorry,” he offers, almost immediately, as he’s unable to look his best friend in the eye. “I just didn’t think you’d understand,” Will explains.

“Understand what?” Mike jerks, placing both hands on the other boy’s shoulders and shaking him.

“What I was going through,” Will whispers, looking down.

Then, Mike finally hears it - the vulnerability in his voice. His friend was scared of him. He eases his expression with tired eyes, speaking to him almost as if he was a child.

“Look I get it, you like guys - and it’s hard. But I would never abandon you just because we’re different,” Mike assures him.

“You don’t get it,” Will insists.

“Yes I do,” Mike nods.

“No you don’t,” Will argues. “I don’t just like guys,” he shouts, eyes brimming with tears.

And it almost takes a lifetime for Will to speak again. 

“I like you, okay?” he confesses, causing Mike to take a step back.

“What?” he releases, completely shocked.

Mike looks at him like he’s made of ash and he almost hates him for it. If he didn’t love him, that is.

“I like you,” Will repeats, exasperated. “There, I finally said it, now we can go back to not talking to each other?” he knows this hurts his friend too.

What hurts more is that, in that moment, Mike Wheeler chooses to walk away.

-

It’s days later where Lucas finally breaks his door down to get him out of his funk. He stares at the mess of video games and undone laundry, followed by empty chip bags and cans of pop lying all over Mike’s room. 

“Man,” he sighs, as he begins to pick stuff up for him. “Did El dump you again or something?” Lucas asks, chuckling.

He doesn’t know how to tell him that his best friend is in love with him and he just broke his fucking heart. That Will’s confession may have awaken something inside of him. That all he wants to do is run back to the time where they just kids and things were just easy.

In the end, Mike doesn’t answer Lucas - he grabs a beer instead. 

-

That night, Will wakes up to an incessant knocking sound. 

He opens it up to not just the view of his quiet little backyard but of Mike Wheeler, possibly drunk, throwing pebbles at his window.

“What kind of person says they’re in love with you and then runs away?” He shouts, as soon as he locks eyes with his best friend (ex-best friend?)

Will stammers, not knowing how to react. Rose pink blush rushes to his cheeks and he breaks out in a sweat. “I-I never said I was in love with you,” he simply says.

And those words hurt Mike even more - although he’s not sure why.

“Will please,” he begs, this time, it’s his turn to cry. “I want my best friend back,” he demands, tears streaming down his cheeks, passion in his eyes.

“I can’t just - “ Will sighs, but he can’t bring himself to finish his statement - not when Mike is looking at him like that. 

“I want the person I can talk to when I feel like shit, I want the guy I can game with, I want you by my side please I - “ Mike trails off, unable to continue with his words as he catches himself shedding more and more tears. 

“You have to give me some time,” Will honestly says. “I can’t just forget how I feel about you,” he goes on with.

The slight moment of silence between them offers Mike some time to compose himself again. He wipes off a few of his tears and fixes his gaze on the other boy. 

“How long do you need?” He asks, sounding desperate.

“I don’t know,” Will shrugs. “A few years maybe?” He doesn’t know how to calculate this - how the hell is he supposed to know the answer to that? You can’t just math out heartbreak - it doesn’t work like that.

The wounds left by unrequited love are not mendable some times. But he couldn’t bare to tell Mike that. 

“You’re not making this easy,” Mike grits.

“Neither are you,” Will whispers. He finally makes his way downstairs and walks up to his friend. He places a kind hand on his shoulder and actually offers him a small smile. “You have to go home now, okay?” Will quietly advises, in the softest tone.

And that’s how he’s always been - gentle.

“I was right about you,” Mike sniffs, brushing off the other’s touch. “You are the tough and brave one, even in moments like this,” he chuckles, making his way off of Will’s property.

Even when he was having his heart broken, he knew he had to be strong one, for Mike’s sake.

Will knew that if he broke down too, his best friend could not handle it.

Even if he so desperately wanted to.

-


End file.
